A Justified Killing: Burning Questions Answered

[The following story contains spoilers from this Wednesday’s episode of Justified.]

In one of its most intense episodes to date, FX’s Justified this Wednesday came out with all guns a-blazing – literally, in some cases.

The first swath of the edge-of-your-seat hour was spent at the whoop-dee-doo that Mags Bennett threw, hoping to unite locals in the cause against Black Pike’s plan to “blow the top off” the mountain and, in doing so, soil their holler with slurry and such.

Every party needs a crasher, though, and Black Pike advance woman Carol Johnson was the one to hit the Bennett bash uninvited. Course, she brought Raylan with her – a good thing, too, seeing as matters got very tense when, in a private tête-à-tête with Mags and Boyd, Carol learned who really held all the cards.

Sure, Black Pike can seize the mountaintop land, Mags allowed – but without access to the Bennett farm and Arlo Givens’ property, there’s no way any trucks can shuttle mined ore to and fro. And with that bombshell (and her list of demands) dropped, Mags all but invited Black Pike to back up a Brinks truck to her porch.

The other big drama took place after the hootenanny, as young Loretta had come to realize that no only was her father in no rush to come home, but that he was dead, likely at the hand of Coover, who had pinched the deceased’s timepiece. After she unsuccessfully tried to KO the goon with laced weed, so that she could rummage for Daddy’s watch, Loretta went on the run, only to ultimately get caught by the wholly unhinged Coover.

Fortunately, Loretta had hailed Raylan using the cell he slipped her weeks back. Givens showed just in time to cut short whatever ghastliness Coover had planned and, in the heat of a struggle, plugged him good with his pistol, leaving the bruiser to topple into the mineshaft.

Still, justice served won’t come without a price. Just how mad will Mags be over her boy’s offing? And over the loss of Loretta to children’s protective services? We’ve got answers to those burning questions and others.

Will Mags Be Furious Over Coover’s Death? | Or will the “stupid” Bennett boy be written off as but a casualty of war, or the cost of doing business? “No, she is hit hard by it,” Margo Martindale tells TVLine. “It will lead her to do some sly maneuvering for the rest of the season.”

Is The Bennett-Givens Feud Renewed? | “Absolutely,” Martindale reports. “I mean, it’s all pretty painful. That was my favorite son!” (To which we say: Well, maybe she should have spoken more fondly of him?)

Will Mags “Mourn” Loretta As Well? | In a manner of speaking, yes, seeing as the girl represented for Mags “a brand-new chance to do it all over again, the right way.” Martindale, however, tells us, “That story is not over,” and that when Loretta does resurface before season’s end, it elicits waterworks — at least off-camera. “I started crying, as Margo, and had to regroup,” she says. “That girl, Kaitlyn Dever, is about as fine an actress as I’ve ever worked with. In-credible.”

Will Mags Next Be Seen Neck-Deep In Her Black Pike Payday? | Actually, the easy money might not come so easy after all. “There are a lot of twists — and a lot of Boyd Crowder! – involved,” Martindale shares. “I tell ya, just when I thought I knew his spots….”

Just How Much Is Martindale Enjoying Her Justified Gig? | “It’s about as fun as anything I’ve ever done, truly,” she raves. “To get to play such a powerful woman, at almost 60, is fantastic.”

And Truly on the Lighter Side: Was that Really Walton Goggins Dancing at the Whoop-dee-doo? | And how! Joelle Carter (Ava) points out for us that her scene partner was a champion clogger as a kid, and thus relished a chance to show off his stepping. Thing is, no one gave Carter a heads-up about the fancy footwork to come, and that’s why Boyd simply gives his oh-so-lovely landlady a spin or two.

Justified fans, what did you think of this week’s episode, “Brother’s Keeper”?

Ugh, I saw this headline right as I was deciding to watch it tomorrow. Glad that I stayed up and watched tonight. That is one of most well rounded and excellent casts on television right now. Some pretty serious writing too. Even when they don’t speak much, a lot is said. Looks a bunch of killing is still to come. Awesome.

Justified has now hit that special mark of a show that goes from “good” to “classic.” Margo Martindale is finally getting the kind of attention she’s deserved for years (Hellooooo, Emmys! Loved that sudden transition tonight from crocodile tears to “let’s go”– Raylan better keep that young girl away from Mags if he knows what’s good for her) and Walton Goggins now has two shows in a row that knock it out of the ballpark (and he never got to clog on “The Shield”)!

There’s an interview with Graham Yost on EW where he says that Mags’s scary-fying, on-a-dime transition from tears to vengeance at the very end wasn’t in the script. It was all Margo Martindale. If this show were a woman, I’d marry it.

Phenomenal. You take fantastic character actors and give them pure gold to work with and you get an hour that good. That praise that Margo Martindale heaps on Kaitylyn Dever is so well earned. She went through so much in that episode, and not all of it was on the page but on her face, clearly she is learning that from the master in Martindale (Martindale’s last scene of the episode), and she was just so good. (“Party Down” should have found a way to work her, she played Megan Mullally’s actress daughter “Escapade”, into more episodes). Thank god that young actress wasn’t sucked into the Disney vacuum. It kind of sucks that Rebecca Creskoff was only able to do three episodes because of her “Hung” obligations because she was just excellent as well. Her character is so vastly different, an improvement over both the characters “Winona” and “Ava”, and the chemistry between her and Olyphant was pretty obvious.

There is no question at all about the best Drama on television. No other Drama on television comes close to the brilliance of this show.

Most anticipated show of the week for me. And I usually wait until Thursday to watch it but since I already heard from pretty much every entertainment blog how fantastic this ep was, and that there was a death, I made sure to watch it last night.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d ever enjoy watching hillbilly rednecks and their ways of living and speaking……(I might add however their pattern of speech and choice of descriptive words in their sentences a little over the top). I’ve lived and worked among these types of people and their country thinking for the past 40 yrs and none use eloquence and curtly manners as depicted in JUSTIFIED.

This was just a fantastic episode. Like everyone else, I’m just blown away by the writing and acting. Network t.v. should get a clue and start making quality shows the way cable does. I figured this show was going to be basically another police procedural, just based in Kentucky and boy, was I wrong. There are so many layers to the plots and to the characters.

It really is a good show. I’m never disappointed by it and look forward to it all week. The writers have done an amazing job of picking up the Elmore Leonard style of writing, and Leonard himself has been very complimentary of how well he thinks the actors have done picking up the characters. My only complaint about this show is that they don’t do enough episodes! I’m already getting depressed thinking how close the season finale is at hand. We’ve got what…a month to go? Then no more episodes until next year. =(

I’ve read that something goes down in episode 11 that makes Raylan want to “explode”. I’m willing to bet that the “something” that happens is that one of the Bennetts (probably Mags) kills Winona or seriously f**ks her up!

I just started watching this show a couple of days ago. I kept popping up in my Amazon searches. I started out with season one without knowing any of the hype and I was blown away. This is probably the best television show I have ever watched period. And I thought Sons of Anarchy and West Wing were stellar. This one is in a class by itself. I live in E TN. and I was over in Harlan County in the fall on a day road trip and although the show is filmed in California, they get it right with the scenery and the people. It’s a poor and depressing place and drugs have taken over.

Love, love, love this show! This season has been awesome and I am just glued to that screen every time Mags is on. I tell ya, the Emmy’s had better recognize Justified in the next awards season, including a well-deserved Ms Martindale!